Mark and Barb Go to the Video Store

Ned Kelley (dir. Gregor Jordan) Australia's badass #1 (cop killa!) gets a sumptuous biopic. From what I gather from this film, Ned and his brothers were Oz's own Pretty Boy Floyd & Posse, gangstas applauded as revolutionaries by the dirt-poor Irish emigrants scratching out a living under the watchful eye of English cops in Victoria State. And while the film doesn't stint on the violence (or on beautiful photography of desolate badlands), the amazing thing about this movie is the babeage density. The ladies get Heath Ledger and Orlando Bloom, the men get Naomi Watts and (in a hilarious cameo) Rachel Griffiths (Americans probably know her as Brenda from Six Feet Under if they don't remember her from Muriel's Wedding), and everyone has a good bad time. If you're looking for a good old ass-kicking movie to fight the Blue State Blues and all their copies of The Grapes of Wrath are checked out, you could do a whole lot worse. (Though it is sad to think what beautiful children Heath and Naomi would have had if their union had lasted.) Mark's review: ****